Meringue at Home

Meringue came to us from the French cuisine, another name for these protein cakes is meringue. They look very attractive: gentle, airy. They are served separately, used to make other cakes and pies. Making meringue at home is a task, feasible not for every cook. The fact is that the technology of preparation of this delicacy has many nuances, and the violation of technology leads to a deplorable result. However, this does not mean that the first culinary experiments on cooking home meringues are doomed to failure: if you follow the instructions accurately, the result will surely please both you and your loved ones. Each time you will be able to cope with the task better and with less labor costs, surprising your friends with an aerial dessert not only on holidays.

Cooking Features

Knowing all the subtleties of cooking meringue at home, you can make delicious and beautiful cakes from the first time.

Only two products are needed for making meringue: egg whites and sugar. Additionally, lemon juice or citric acid is often used, which helps to whip proteins into a dense foam. A classic combination is considered: 1 egg white (from an egg of the first category), 55-60 g of powdered sugar, 5 ml of lemon juice or 1-2 g of citric acid.
Sugar for making meringue is required to take fine, it is even better to use icing sugar — it is easier to beat the protein mass with it. Regular sugar can be turned into powder with a coffee grinder.
Eggs for meringue must be taken fresh. Wash them with soap and water before use to prevent Salmonella infection.
It is advisable to break eggs one at a time, adding proteins to the bowl only if you are sure that the yolk did not get into them. If the yolk gets into the dish, it will be extremely difficult to beat the whites.
If even a drop of water or fat gets into the protein mass, you won't be able to whip it. All utensils should be clean and completely dry. Before use, it is recommended to wipe with a slice of lemon, then wipe dry with a kitchen towel.
If the eggs are cooled before use, they will be whipped better.
When chipping proteins, powdered sugar is introduced gradually, one teaspoon. Citric acid or lemon juice is added already after the icing sugar is completely injected.
Sometimes almonds or other nuts are used to make meringues. They are pre-crushed, injected at the last stage of the preparation of the protein mass, when it is already whipped. Stir these ingredients with a silicone spatula.
It is necessary to beat the proteins to such a state that the mixer head extracted from them leaves behind on the surface of the protein mass peaks that do not fall for a long time. If you turn the container with a well-whipped protein mass, proteins will not flow out.
Spread the squirrels on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, using a spoon or culinary bag. It is necessary to leave a distance between the protein balls, as they will increase by about 2 times in the cooking process.
The meringues are not baked according to the technology, but dried. Several options. You can bake for 1-2 hours (depending on the size of the cakes) in the oven at a temperature of about 100 degrees, then leave it to cool completely. Another option: preheat the oven to 150-160 degrees, put a pan with meringues in it, reduce the temperature to 130-140 degrees, wait 10-15 minutes, turn off the oven completely, wait until it cools completely. During the whole cooking time, the oven cannot be opened, but the convection function, if provided, is desirable to activate. You can cook the meringue in the slow cooker and in the microwave, but it will not be so beautiful anymore.

The basic recipe for making meringue at home is one, but there are several variations of it. Having mastered the basic principles of cooking this dessert, you will be able to create your own copyrights of crispy airy delicacies.

Classic meringue recipe

Composition:

egg whites - 3 pcs .;
icing sugar - 165-180 g;
citric acid (optional) - 4 g.

Preparation Method:

Eggs, cool, wash with soap and water. Break one by one, separating the whites from the yolks. Place the squirrels in a clean and dry deep bowl.
Turn the mixer on at low speed. Beat whites for 2 minutes. Increase the number of revolutions. Beat until the squirrels become thick foam.
Pour a teaspoon of powdered sugar without stopping to whip proteins.
After 30 seconds, enter the second spoonful of powder, then another. So, without turning off the mixer and without removing it from the bowl of proteins, gradually introduce all the icing sugar.
Pour in citric acid and continue to beat the whites until resistant peaks.
Heat oven to 150 degrees.
Lay parchment on a baking sheet.
At a distance of 5 cm from each other with a dessert spoon, lay out the protein mass, forming balls from it.
Put the pan in the oven. Reduce the temperature to 130 degrees.
After 15 minutes, turn off the oven. Wait for it to cool completely. Experienced housewives leave the meringue in the oven until the morning.

It remains to remove the baking sheet, shift the meringues to the dish and serve. Merengues can also be bonded to each other in pairs with cream or butter cream, turning them into even more tasty and delicious cakes.

Almond meringue

Composition:

squirrels - 2 pcs .;
icing sugar - 110 g;
almonds - 30-40 g;
vanillin - on the tip of a knife;
citric acid - at the tip of the knife.

Preparation Method:

Finely chop the almonds with a knife.
Place the whites separated from the yolks in a bowl, place them in a steam bath.
Beat whites at high speed until they begin to thicken. Continuing to beat, in small portions enter the icing sugar, then vanilla and citric acid.
Beat the protein mass for 10 minutes. During this time it will become dense, will get a glossy shade.
Place the protein mass in a culinary bag, place it on a baking tray covered with parchment with small snails, spirals or other shapes.
Place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to 100 degrees, bake cakes for 1, 5 hours, then leave to cool for about the same time in the oven turned off.

The meringue prepared according to this recipe can be stapled in pairs with butter cream or boiled condensed milk.

A simple recipe for meringue in the microwave

Composition:

egg white - 1 pc .;
sugar - 159 g.

Preparation Method:

Crush sugar in a coffee grinder to a state of powder, pour into a plate.
Separate the white from the yolk. Add protein to caster sugar.
Spread protein and powdered sugar to obtain a thick homogeneous composition.
Cover the microwave with parchment.
Form small balls from the prepared mixture.
Put them on parchment at a considerable distance from each other, as the protein mass will spread during the preparation process.
Turn on the microwave at maximum power for 30 seconds.
Remove one meringue, break it to check readiness. If the cake did not bake, turn on the device for another 30 seconds.

In a microwave, meringues are thin, but sweet and crispy. They can become part of the cake, if you put whipped cream on each of them and decorate with strawberries or a cocktail cherry. Another way to make pastries made from microwave meringue is to put it between two round biscuits, holding together layers of boiled condensed milk or butter cream.

The technology of cooking meringue has many subtleties, without the knowledge of which to make this cake at home will not work. However, having studied the technology and accurately following the instructions accompanying the recipe, even an inexperienced pastry chef will cope with the task.

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